I cleared my TBR to listen to THUG on release day - and all I can say is if you haven't picked this book up, you need to. I'm going to help you with a giveaway below but I can't recommend the audiobook enough. It is SO GOOD.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, Khalil’s death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Starr’s best friend at school suggests he may have had it coming. When it becomes clear the police have little interest in investigating the incident, protesters take to the streets and Starr’s neighborhood becomes a war zone. What everyone wants to know is: What really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could destroy her community. It could also endanger her life.

When I'm not devouring YA novels like the world is ending, I spend my time with my fur balls, husband, and fangirling over everything. I'm a big dystopian fan; my favorite series is The Giver Quartet. In addition to contributing here, I blog for Hicklebee's Children's Bookstore and Forever Young Adult. You can find me at Bay Area author events and on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads as diamondxgirl.

8 comments:

As a white person living in the Midwest, it's unpleasant just seeing how close-minded people are, and the injustices and treatment against people of color (I'm not *too* far from Ferguson, Missouri, and nearly 3 years later it still isn't safe to be there). And no one "official" seems to know--or admit--the true story ...differing accounts, differing coroner's reports, etc.So why is this book important to me? To see things from another perspective, to the best of my ability, at least. Because this stuff is happening all over, especially in this day. Was the young man in Ferguson guilty? I'll probably never know. Most midwest whites--excluding myself--say yes; most nationwide blacks say no. One thing that I do know is that additional violence didn't make matters any better.Thanks for the chance, would love to read this book.

Oh, you're doing one of those acronym thingies. I thought it was some sort of sociological group-signifier acronym-thing, and not a title acronym-thing. I'm just not cool enough to understand that titles are so totally un-cool. My bad!

THUG is right on the cover and I didn't see it before. Now i'm thinking that this tells me that I need THUG to open my eyes to the current situation in the US as well as elsewhere in the wolrd. People are profiled, stereotyped because of skin color, religion, sexual preference, where they live, and more. This will be a life-changer for me.

Oh my gosh, I am trying to get my books read for book tours so fast so I can get to this one. I've heard nothing but amazing things about how powerful and important this book is. Thanks so much for hosting a giveaway!

I want to understand other people's thoughts and as a political scientist I am very interested on how the society works and how people interact with one another given that they are different with one another.